In one of the compromises between the Senate and the House versions, the deal allows for the establishment of two medical marijuana manufacturers and eight distribution sites across the state.

Former Republican House Rep. Marty Seifert, who is still competing against a field of GOP contenders to take on Gov. Mark Dayton, will start running ads this week. Dayton Campaign Manager Katharine Tinucci said it's not time yet for the governor to run ads.

By a vote of 111-15, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would bar suspected domestic abusers who are under active restraining orders from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk explained that the Senate’s quickened pace came at Dayton’s urging. “The governor, probably about two weeks ago, actually asked the Legislature to move on the bill,” Bakk said. “I guess, at his request, we thought we would show him that courtesy.”

A House committee on Tuesday gave the nod to a bill that would require alleged domestic abusers to surrender their firearms and ammunition.

Bakk denied that the Senate had deliberately delayed approval of over $500 million worth of tax cut.

Sen. Vicki Jensen, Sen. Michelle Benson, Rep. Dan Schoen and Rep. Kelby Woodard.

State Rep. Karen Clark, who was the lead sponsor of legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, will receive the lifetime achievement award as part of the fourth annual Leaders in Public Policy awards, sponsored by Capitol Report and Politics in Minnesota. Clark and the other honorees will be recognized at a ceremony at the Saint Paul Hotel on July 11.

DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen this week created a temporary committee on controlled substances and synthetic drugs that will hold hearings over the interim on drug abuse issues. Rep. Erik Simonson, DFL-Duluth, will chair the committee, which has to present a report to the speaker by the time session starts in February next year.

David Mosley has more than two decades of experience scrutinizing public health programs at the state and federal level. In all of that time, he's never encountered a state that did not collect paid claims data to provide a basis for setting its Medicaid rates.